1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates generally to vises and, in particular, to an apparatus that extends the utility of a conventional vise by allowing a set of accessory jaws to be attached that are designed to grasp irregularly shaped objects.
2. Background
Woodworking vises and machinist vises are very common and useful tools. Generally, they are limited to applications entailing work objects with two parallel sides. Certain specialized jaws are available, such as, notched jaws for holding pipes, or rubber jaws, but for the most part, specialized holding jigs must be built in order to hold irregular objects, which can take considerable time and expense. This device was invented to address this shortfall, which is to say, providing a vise accessory attachment system, compatible with a conventional vise, that includes accessory jaws capable of gripping a wide range of irregular objects.
A wide variety of specialized holding and clamping devices have been developed in an attempt to accommodate irregularly shaped objects. Examples of such devices are found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,460,064, 5,806,385, 6,098,507, 6,092,443, and 6,138,534. While these and other devices represent improvements in the art of holding irregularly shaped objects, they suffer from several drawbacks that have prevented widespread application in the machining arts.
U.S. Pat. No. 626,427 to E. H. Jones, issued Jun. 6, 1899 is directed to a vise in which an article is placed between two jaws provided with adjustable projections (or between a single jaw and a plane jaw) and the jaws are moved together, so that the article displaces the projections opposite to it and their ends bear on the different portions of its form and hold it up approximately as a mold would do. The projections are then clamped securely in the projections to which they have adjusted themselves and the jaw is tightened upon the article by a vise screw.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,499,989 to F. Lehmann, issued Jul. 1, 1924 discloses a vise for use with machine tools that includes a base plate adapted to be secured to the sliding carriage of a planing machine, or the like, and having two housings mounted oppositely on the base plate. The two housings are adapted such that at least one will slide toward the other and a series of spring controlled clamping jaws are so arranged in each of the housings that projecting parts of the work piece causes part of the jaws to be pressed back into the housings until all of the spring controlled jaws are in contact with and firmly grip the work piece on all sides.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,754,708 to C. R. Peterson, issued Jul. 17, 1956 shows a vise for handling irregular shaped object that includes a base having a stationary jaw projecting upwardly from one end and a movable jaw slidable on the base. Included in each of the jaws is a hollow block having facing openings with a plurality of movable work engaging members slidably carried in the block. A movable pressure plate in each block adjacent one side wall thereof is clampable against the work engaging members to lock each of them into work engaging position. Springs are used to urge each work-engaging member into working position.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,063 to Bela Nagy, issued Jun. 21, 1988 is directed to a vise attachment for use on a vise assembly for holding objects having irregularly shaped surfaces and includes a small compact housing having a plurality of blade elements disposed adjacent to each other and slidably mounted within a rectangular opening on one side of the housing and movable between and extended position and a retracted position. Each element preferably comprises a plate member having smooth planar surfaces and a concave curved back edge and stop means disposed on upper and lower edges for setting a limit for extension of the blade from the housing. A self-distributing non-resilient medium is positioned within the housing and has a predetermined volume for filing the housing when the blades are in a retracted position. A distribution and reset means causes the blades to reposition themselves to extend fully through the rectangular opening when not holding an object.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,032,940 to Ingo E. Wolfe, issued Mar. 7, 2000 discloses a universal vise that has a movable and a fixed jaw that can be indexed at 90° increments to provide for four separate work clamping surfaces on each jaw. The vise includes a vise screw driving a nut that drives the movable jaw in each of four indexed positions of the movable jaw. The indexable jaws permit the vise to be adapted to hold four different types of work pieces.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,783,123 to Guimont describes a vise jaw assembly consisting of blocks containing an arrangement of apertures containing pins that can be independently deployed. by means of a fluid. The pins serve as a configurable step to support the bottom of the work piece above the deck.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,422,629 to Carlson describes an accessory apparatus for vises that utilizes a pair of accessory members. The accessory apparatus as described, provides three ranges of gripping areas based on the Z-shaped cross-section of the mating members.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,995 to Steinwall describes a vise with quick change jaw system. The jaw faces are secured to the vise body by means of locking pins.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,196,536 to Hintze describes a grip set attachment to a conventional consisting of a master grip and a series of additional grips to allow the user to work on all sides of work piece held by the grips.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,741,145 to Bahorik describes a two-part vise jaw accessory that clamps onto the fixed and movable jaw portion of a vise for the purpose of providing an extended jaw capacity that allows the vise to hold larger objects than the basic vise otherwise would provided that the objects have at least two parallel sides.
U.S. Pat. No. D292,481 to Wolff describes an ornamental design for vise extender jaws that attach to threaded holes in the fixed and movable jaws of a conventional vise with fixed length pins that rests on the vise jaws for support for the purpose of providing additional linear capacity for work pieces with parallel sides.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,953,188 by this inventor describes a vise utilizing jaws containing arrays of spring-loaded pins for grasping irregularly shaped objects. This is an unconventional vise which closes by the combination of a linear ratchet bar and a rotary power cam.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,290,761 also by this inventor offers an improvement to the above-mentioned vise in that it provides the ability the remove the base and thus alternatively use the vise as a clamp, the means to turn the vise on its side in a configuration that enables it to be used in a drill press, and an outrigger feature that will keep the vise from tipping when used upright with large work objects.
These last two vises answers most of the shortcomings of the other vises described above in that they provide a convenient method of grasping irregular work pieces in a highly versatile vise configuration, albeit in a somewhat unconventional manner that uses a linear ratchet bar and power cam as opposed to the traditional power screw. However, since many people already own conventional vises and may be reluctant to invest in an additional vise solely for the purpose of grasping irregular objects, there is a need for a vise accessory that can be added to a traditional vise and provide the added functionality of being able to firmly and securely grasp irregularly shaped objects.
Accordingly, a device is disclosed that answers this need consisting of two accessory jaw face brackets that attach to the vise jaw faces by means of mounting screws deployed through a universal mounting pattern. (At least 95% of all commercial vises utilize one of three typical hole-spacing patterns.) The front jaw accessory bracket is further supported by means of an adjustable wedge inserted between the jaw head and the bracket. The rear jaw accessory bracket is supported by means of an adjustable pillar that rests on the vise anvil. The front accessory jaw rigidly attaches to the front jaw face accessory bracket which allows the front accessory jaw to move in unison with the front vise jaw, while allowing for interchangeable jaws with various grasping characteristics. The rear accessory jaw attaches to the rear jaw accessory bracket in a manner which can add adjustability to the relative positioning of the jaws. For example, a ratchet mechanism can be used here to allow relative motion between the rear accessory jaw and the rear accessory jaw bracket, thereby facilitating quick and convenient adjustment of the rear jaw position.
The accessory jaws are designed, with each jaw having upstanding portions to accommodate a variety of interchangeable jaw faces each containing an array of spring loaded pins. The spring-loaded pins enable the vise to grasp objects of highly irregular shapes. These accessory jaws are designed to easily accommodate a variety of such jaw faces with differing force-displacement grasp characteristics, such as, but not limited to light, medium and heavy duty, with respect to their clamping force capability. These characteristics can be controlled by means of such parameters as pin diameter, spring strength and tip type. Various spring-pin excursion lengths can be used to accommodate more different shapes and different spring rate characteristics.
These spring-loaded pin array jaw faces cannot practicably be mounted on the front of conventional jaw faces, for if they were, the capacity of the vise were be substantially reduced and only very small objects could be placed into or secured by the vise. If, for example, a set of these jaw faces with 1.5″ length pins were mounted onto the front faces of a vise with a 6″ jaw capacity, the effective jaw capacity would be reduced to 3″ by the presence of the pins. This necessitates the mounting of the spring-pin array jaw faces above, rather than in front of the traditional jaws.